Dateline: Horror At The Lake - Who was Denise Hallowell and what happened to her? Disturbing details of the 2019 incident, revealed 

The Dateline episode titled Horror At The Lake presents a chilling take on a mother murdered by her son. On a July night in 2019, as revealed by Dateline, a teenager named Carlos Hallowell frantically called 911, reporting that someone had murdered his mother, Denise Hallowell.

Dateline further presented that upon reaching the crime scene—an otherwise scenic lakeside home in Inverness, Florida—the Sheriff's Department and investigators were met with the grisly corpse of Denise Hallowell. The cause of her death was an axe that had been lodged into the back of her head.

Although Carlos alleged that an intruder had murdered Denise while he was asleep, it was later revealed that he had much to hide in this matter. Investigators eventually discovered incriminating digital evidence that unmistakably tied Carlos to the crime, resulting in his conviction and subsequent life sentence in prison.

Here's everything we know about the unfortunate incident.

Dateline: Horror at the Lake: Carlos Hallowell's motive for murdering his mother Denise

Denise Hallowell was a teacher who always wanted to have a family of her own. Following the breakdown of her previous marriage, she decided to adopt Carlos from Guatemala when he was just four years old. While growing up, Carlos was the apple of her eye, excelling in both academics and athletics. Denise's neighbor, Amy Alford, attested to her friend's character while speaking to Dateline:

"I’ve known Denise all my life, she was about five years older than me, so she was like a big sister. I admired her. The kids adored her. Colleagues adored her. ”

As Carlos entered his teenage years, Denise decided to adopt another boy named Angel Hallowel from Honduras. However, things reached a point of crisis when Angel alleged that Denise was guilty of domestic abuse and had been assaulting him. Social workers responded after Denise reported that Angel was missing from home. Eventually, Angel was taken away from Denise after she signed off her parental rights.

As revealed by Carlos later during his trial, this separation from Angel proved too much for Denise, and she would take out her frustrations on Carlos by humiliating and verbally abusing him. On the day of her death, Denise and Carlos got into a heated argument about his plans for college. Denise berated Carlos, telling him he was worthless, and in a fit of rage, he ended up murdering her with an axe.

How was Carlos Hallowell apprehended?

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As shown in the Dateline episode, investigators found CCTV camera manuals inside the lakeside home, but no cameras. They eventually searched the lake and were able to recover waterlogged cameras. By further tying Carlos' mobile phone GPS location to the lake, police were able to prove that he was the one who had disposed of the cameras. Carlos eventually confessed to killing his adoptive mother.

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